Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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290. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of houses that availed of the deep retrofit grant assistance as managed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland in 2018; and the overall budget spend in grant support for such projects. [12545/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Deep Retrofit Pilot scheme on behalf of my Department.

The Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme, a three year pilot which began in 2017, is investigating how to create a scalable offering for the deep retrofit of Ireland’s housing stock, while building consumer demand as well as contractor capacity for deep retrofit. Under the scheme Government is funding up to 50% of the total capital and project management costs for homes that achieve an A3 Building Energy Rating post retrofit. This will inform a model that could make deep retrofit available to homeowners on a larger scale post 2020, and will help Ireland move away from fossil fuels to clean renewable heating systems, such as solar and heat pumps.

To date, a total of 229 homes have been upgraded with a spend of €5.96m under the Deep Retrofit Pilot scheme. Of these, 211 houses were upgraded in 2018 with a spend of €4.72m. The scheme operates on a milestone basis, with milestone payments being made at 25%, 50% and 90% completion. 10% of the payment is retained until 12 months post works and is paid on submission of the first year’s post-works data. Each homeowner also signs up to providing SEAI with data on their energy usage for 3 years post retrofit.